Random’s Mega Man Raps Pay Off, Nerd-Style

When Arizona-based rapper Random created his 2007 indie-hop effort Mega Ran out of his love of Capcom’s old-school game Mega Man, he expected trouble, perhaps a lawsuit. Instead, Capcom invited him to rule its Comic-Con International booth and then bankrolled the 2009 follow-up, Mega Ran 9, released in March.

"It’s pretty amazing, and relieving," Random, known as Raheem Jarboe to the IRS, explained to Wired.com in an e-mail interview.

As one of Capcom’s most successful entries, Mega Man has always had a healthy share of devotees. But Random never thought that his childhood love of quests to steal weapons from Robot Masters would lead to raps about wooing Splash Woman, the first boss character in the franchise. Yet Jarboe, who teaches when he’s not crafting chiptunes, understands that there is a lesson to be learned here.

"Hip-hop has been built on false images for so long," he says. "Nerd is the new cool."

Wired.com: How does it feel to not be sued by Capcom?

Random: It’s pretty amazing, and relieving. I can’t say I ever expected it. I think inside of most hip-hop heads, deep down is the soul of a gamer. It seemed almost taboo to combine both loves, because hip-hop is so much about what’s cool and tough. I never felt that I’d be able to fully embrace that side, let alone be successful with it.

Wired.com: How is the album doing? I hear it’s Rahm Nation’s top-seller.

Random: The album is exceeding my expectations. Right now, it’s sold out at UndergroundHipHop.com, which is even more shocking, because the big sellers there are folks like Talib Kweli and MF Doom, who I really respect. It’s wild, because I gave it away for free for almost a month, and it’s now over 7,000 downloads. No one knows the formula for selling records these days, not even the bigwigs. So to give 80 percent of an album away and then sell it, and still have it sell well, tells me a lot. It tells me that if you make a product for a core audience, and are genuine in your approach, people will see that and want to support it. Oh, and it can’t suck.

Wired.com: Are you thinking of turning this into a trend with other games you dug as a kid?

Random: I thought about it. In fact, I have plans right now for a new videogame album. I’ve told them to the Mega Ran crew and they’re all for it. I don’t want to formally announce it yet, because it might not come this year or even next. But what will happen is my album with K-Murdock called Forever Famicom. He’s gonna sample some of my favorite Nintendo Entertainment System games like Faxanadu, EarthBound, Street Fighter 2010 and more. We’re gonna have some fun. We’ve secured an arrangement with a label in Japan (of course), so the next album will drop over there as an import only. But I’ll drop a North American counterpart as well.

Wired.com: Capcom invited you to Comic-Con last year. How did that go?

Random: That was amazing. Myself and DN3 got to hang out at the Capcom booth, and they played the Mega Ran tunes out of the speakers. I signed autographs and met a bunch of great fans. Just to be able to walk through Comic-Con with a badge that said "Raheem Jarbo: Capcom Entertainment: Exhibitor" was surreal. I met Sgt. Slaughter, for crying out loud. The folks at Capcom tell me they’re looking to work me into the mix this year as well.

Wired.com: You’re a teacher: What is the lesson here?

Random: That you can definitely draw inspiration from anything. I went from listening to Mega Man MP3s online to traveling the country. Anything can happen. It turns out that there were people out there who were waiting for someone to take the idea and run with it. I’ve had so many people at shows tell me, "I was thinking about rapping over videogame beats!" But I think it’s more than that. It takes heart to embrace your childhood and take a bold step forward. That has made this successful.

I mean, I’m far from the first musician to experiment and try to branch out, so I’m hoping that this can show hip-hop artists that it’s OK to be true to yourself. This is what us educators call a "teachable moment." You get about 10 of those a day, at any given time … and I think you just backed me into one!

Wired.com: Well, I think efforts like this help technoculture take hip-hop more seriously than it already does.

Random: Rappers aren’t considered musicians by a great majority. But I’ll be the first to tell you that it takes some serious musicianship to be good at it. Now, to make money, well that’s a different story. Hip-hop has been built on false images for so long, so maybe "keeping it real" is becoming cool, for real. Nerd is the new cool.